The present invention relates to a so-called surface discharge, a dot matrix type color plasma display which is used for a personal computer and an office work station which have exhibited remarkable progress in recent years, or for a wall TV and the like which are expected to be developed in future.
As a conventional surface discharge, dot matrix type plasma display, a display having a structure shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B is available (SID International Symposium Digest of Technical Papers (1986), P. 212). Referring to FIGS. 7A and 7B, reference numeral 1 denotes a first insulating substrate; 2, a second insulating substrate made of glass or the like; 20 and 21, insulating layers; 22, a discharge gas space; 23, a rib for defining a gas space to form a pixel; 24, a transparent electrode; 25 and 26, a row electrode pair consisting of two parallel electrodes; L.sub.1, a row electrode spacing between adjacent pixels; L.sub.2, a row electrode width; and L.sub.3, a discharge gap. An AC voltage is applied between the row electrodes 25 and 26. Once a discharge start pulse voltage is applied between the transparent electrode 24 and either of the row electrodes 25 and 26 so as to cause a discharge, the discharge serves as a firing source and sustains a discharge between the row electrodes 25 and 26. If a low pulse voltage for discharge extinction is applied between the row electrodes 25 and 26, the charge on the row electrode 25 or 26 is neutralized by this voltage, and the sustained discharge between the row electrodes 25 and 26 is stopped. As shown in FIG. 7A, therefore, if the stripe row electrodes 25 and 26 are arranged to perpendicularly cross the stripe transparent electrodes 24, a dot matrix type plasma display can be obtained.
In the structure shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, however, since one pair of row electrodes are used for one display line, a fine electrode pattern is required for a high-resolution panel. This poses difficulty in the formation of an electrode pattern. In order to overcome this difficulty, a plasma display having a structure shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B is proposed (Technical Research Report of the Institute of Electronic Information and Communication, Vol. 87, No. 408, PP. 53 to 58, published on Mar. 19, 1988). Referring to FIGS. 8A and 8B, reference numeral 37 denotes a bilateral electrode, partitioned by a barrier 38 at the middle, for discharging at electrodes at its both sides; and 35, a write electrode formed, as a film, on a rear glass 31.
In this plasma display, since the bilateral electrode 37 as one row electrode is commonly used for adjacent pixels, the row electrode interval L.sub.1 shown in FIG. 7A is not required. For this reason, a high-resolution panel can be realized with the same electrode width as that of a conventional display. However, since the bilateral electrodes 37 and the write electrodes 35 are stacked on the same rear glass 31, the capacitance between them is increased. For this reason, if a voltage is applied to the bilateral electrode 37 or the write electrode 35, a capacitance is charged between them, resulting in an increase in power loss. In addition, since the time to charge a capacitance is required, such an arrangement is not suitable for a large-screen display requiring a high-speed operation.